January’s Quieter Voice

January can be pretty loud. For many, it seems demanding. Get a resolution, a word, a challenge, a life. Make some damn changes, it yells. After all the excess of the holiday season, we often welcome this voice. I have heard it for years and usually stood at attention when it spoke. I needed some directional change.

But this year, it sounds a lot like a selah, a sigh. Have a seat, it says.

For so many years, January’s demanding voice led me to agree with the “New Year New You” theme. And I made lists and came up with words and set intentions. After all, how do we make changes if not intentionally?

But this year not so much. There’s a boatload of things that get harder as we get older. But there are things that get easier, more uncomplicated, as well. 

So if I had to choose a word, it would be one that didn’t demand anything. It would be the quiet, softly spoken word, CONTINUE.

Continue what you’re doing. Continue to put love as your highest priority. Continue to laugh, encourage, and be kind. Continue to eat well, lift heavy things, move. Continue writing.

I am realizing it’s time to enjoy the fruit of all those resolution years. Being content with where we’re at doesn’t mean we stop growing. But when we’re happy with who we have grown to be, we can be assured that “we can stay in motion with the same speed and direction,” Isaac Newton (in his not really written book), How to Enjoy the Aging Process.

So at this start of January, if we are prompted to make a change, we can trust that it will move us more fully into who we want to become. But if we don’t hear anything, maybe we simply accept who we have become and add it to the list of “Benefits of Growing Older.”

Maybe it’s time to focus on making THAT list bigger.